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ForgeRock vs Fortinet FortiAuthenticator comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 1, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.2
ForgeRock enhanced market efficiency, security, and customer trust, reducing staffing needs and improving time to market without exact ROI figures.
Sentiment score
5.1
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator improved security and compliance, yet financial gains are hard to quantify with some citing reduced costs.
On a B2B level, it opened up the market for TomTom to sell its services in a more efficient way to car companies.
Principal Consultant at Road2Value
We can use a Linux image from ForgeRock with different systems, applications, websites, and mobile apps to create various types of access for users.
Assistant Architect at a energy/utilities company with 501-1,000 employees
I can definitely see that fewer employees are needed compared to using different SaaS applications.
Identity and Access Management Specialist at a university with 10,001+ employees
It enhances security by ensuring only the right person can access systems, even if their login credentials are compromised.
Senior Network and Security Engineer at Symbol Technologies PLC
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.8
ForgeRock customer service is flexible and responsive, but improvements are needed for professional services and ticket resolution speed.
Sentiment score
6.8
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator offers generally responsive support with some variance in effectiveness based on complexity and local availability.
The support portals offer comprehensive documentation, troubleshooting guides, and community forums that have been helpful for resolving common issues independently.
Software Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
For standard support tickets, response times were very decent, and the support team was helpful in identifying configuration issues, especially with authentication trees, token settings, and directory replications.
Identity and Access Management Specialist at a university with 10,001+ employees
The customer support is very flexible and supportive, particularly in the area of automation and customer deployments.
Cybersecurity Consultant at CyberBackbone
At times, some technical staff lack knowledge, which delays issue resolution.
DevOps Engineer at YASH Technologies
Customer service and support are excellent.
Senior Network and Security Engineer at Symbol Technologies PLC
Technical support from Fortinet deserves a rating of 10.
Infrastructure Manager at Scandinavian Highlands Holding A/S
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
ForgeRock offers scalable solutions for diverse enterprises, supporting seamless expansion, efficient administration, and integration across multiple environments.
Sentiment score
7.8
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator offers scalable user capacity and integrates well, though minor manual adjustments may be needed.
The access management layer is stateless, so I can scale horizontally by adding more nodes behind a load balancer as traffic increases.
Identity and Access Management Specialist at a university with 10,001+ employees
The platform provides flexible authentication trees, enabling us to design custom MFA flows tailored for different user groups and risk profiles.
Software Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
We scaled up with ForgeRock. My team received an award for implementing it for a 60 million customer base, which was the largest implementation at that time.
Principal Consultant at Road2Value
The scalability of FortiAuthenticator is good, and I would rate it an eight on a scale of one to ten.
IT Manager at PTECH
I find Fortinet FortiAuthenticator to be highly scalable, and I would rate it an eight out of ten for scalability.
Senior Network and Security Engineer at Symbol Technologies PLC
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator should be sufficiently scalable.
Network Engineer at Coop Money
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
ForgeRock is stable and reliable, though customization affects stability, with users rating it seven to nine out of ten.
Sentiment score
7.4
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is generally stable, though hardware defects and syncing issues affect performance in high-volume environments.
ForgeRock supports integration with legacy systems in our organization by offering a wide range of connectors and APIs.
Software Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
ForgeRock is very stable because it manages access, authentication, and authorization effectively.
Assistant Architect at a energy/utilities company with 501-1,000 employees
It remains stable even when the number of concurrent users increases.
Senior Network and Security Engineer at Symbol Technologies PLC
 

Room For Improvement

ForgeRock users suggest improving documentation, UI, DevOps support, onboarding, and training for better customization and admin experience.
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator needs improved usability, integration, support, affordability, customization, and stability for better user authentication efficiency.
ForgeRock needs to focus on low-code, no-code solutions that allow for drag-and-drop functionality with good orchestration.
CIAM Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
It would be better if they were available for support whenever the customer needs it, especially during migration or go-live time periods.
IAM Solution Architect at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
The main area is complexity. ForgeRock is extremely flexible, but the learning curve can be steep.
Identity and Access Management Specialist at a university with 10,001+ employees
For example, authentication for wireless users expires after 24 hours, requiring re-authentication daily.
Head of computer systems at Indian Institute of Space Science & Technology(IIST)
I recommend Fortinet make its images migratable between environments.
Senior Network and Security Engineer at Symbol Technologies PLC
The technical support could be improved as some staff lacks the necessary knowledge to assist effectively.
DevOps Engineer at YASH Technologies
 

Setup Cost

ForgeRock offers flexible pricing with community and enterprise options, seen as fair, supporting various features and open-source choices.
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is praised for its affordable, straightforward user-based pricing, especially compared to Cisco solutions.
The pricing, setup cost, and licensing are very straightforward, which is a good success.
Cybersecurity Consultant at CyberBackbone
One has to spend considerable time trying to understand the different modules and different needs for those modules on the licensing front.
Principal Consultant at Road2Value
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is not overly expensive compared to other Fortinet subscriptions.
Senior Network and Security Engineer at Symbol Technologies PLC
 

Valuable Features

ForgeRock offers flexible authentication, scalability, and DevOps support with strong API integration, enhancing security and operational efficiency.
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator offers easy setup, cost-effectiveness, strong integration, detailed logging, and flexible two-factor authentication options.
Centralized management makes the biggest difference because it allows us to define, update, and enforce security and compliance rules from a single location.
Software Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
ForgeRock positively impacts our organization as we manage a large number of users with ease, providing a standard IAM solution that simplifies our processes.
CIAM Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
ForgeRock has positively impacted my organization by allowing us to migrate from the older system to the newer ForgeRock component, enabling us to go live with many products across geographies, enhancing security as it is all cloud-based, and with the company taking care of availability, it has reduced costs for the company.
IAM CONSULTANT at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
The integration with FortiToken is outstanding, adding a layer of security for authentication.
Senior Network and Security Engineer at Symbol Technologies PLC
We use multi-factor authentication for enhancing security.
DevOps Engineer at YASH Technologies
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator can be used from anywhere in the world, and the authenticator services function globally.
Assistant Manager-Networks at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

ForgeRock
Ranking in Identity Management (IM)
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
38
Ranking in other categories
Access Management (7th), Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) (4th)
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator
Ranking in Identity Management (IM)
10th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
63
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (7th), Authentication Systems (3rd), Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Identity Management (IM) category, the mindshare of ForgeRock is 3.7%, down from 5.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiAuthenticator is 2.0%, down from 3.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Identity Management (IM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
ForgeRock3.7%
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator2.0%
Other94.3%
Identity Management (IM)
 

Featured Reviews

SR
Software Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Centralized access control has improved secure onboarding and supports strict compliance
I wish we had used ForgeRock's adaptive risk-based authentication, which allows dynamic adjustment of authentication requirements based on user behavior. This could have helped us further strengthen our security. Another hidden gem is the built-in support for custom authentication modules and scripting, which gives a great deal of flexibility to tailor authentication flows. The self-service capabilities for password resets and account recovery have been very helpful in reducing support overhead and improving user experience. Discovering and utilizing these features would have definitely made our integration even smoother and would have provided additional value for both our users and our security team. One area of improvement would be the user interface for policy and workflow configuration, which can become complex and sometimes unintuitive, especially for new administrators. A more streamlined and user-friendly UI would help reduce the learning curve. Enhanced out-of-the-box analytics and reporting would also be valuable, as our current options often require custom development or integration with external tools. While extensibility is a strength, documentation for advanced customizations and integrations could be more comprehensive and easier to follow. Improved support for seamless upgrades and backward compatibility would also help minimize downtime. In terms of performance, optimizing the platform for high concurrency environments would be beneficial, especially for organizations with large user bases or peak usage periods. Enhanced scalability features such as more granular or horizontal scaling options would provide better support for distributed deployments. For integrations, having more pre-built connectors and easy integration with modern cloud-native services would accelerate adoption. Improved monitoring and real-time health dashboards would help proactively identify and resolve performance bottlenecks.
Sachin Vinay - PeerSpot reviewer
Assistant Manager-Networks at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
Supports secure remote authentication and provides comprehensive user activity tracking
The most important feature is the security capability because it provides a substantial amount of security for admin-related activities. Fortinet FortiAuthenticator can be used from anywhere in the world, and the authenticator services function globally. This global accessibility is one of the critical advantages, particularly since admin features are critical and security is a real concern. With Fortinet FortiAuthenticator, secure usage of firewall services and related functions is achieved. A complete log of all users who access the authenticator setup is maintained. Monthly logs are reviewed to check for any unnoticed activities. Each authenticated user's complete activity history is recorded. This logging capability allows for providing access to more admin users while ensuring security is not compromised and all users can be monitored.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
20%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Insurance Company
6%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise18
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business38
Midsize Enterprise18
Large Enterprise11
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ForgeRock?
The pricing, setup cost, and licensing are very straightforward, which is a good success. I appreciate that it is very straightforward and helpful.
What needs improvement with ForgeRock?
I wish the JavaScript part could be improved, as not everyone is proficient in JavaScript, so automating that or reducing the reliance on it could be beneficial. Additionally, having only one realm...
What is your primary use case for ForgeRock?
My main use case for ForgeRock is designing user journeys, specifically customer user journeys, and how they interact with the system. A specific example of a user journey I designed using ForgeRoc...
What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiAuthenticator?
Fortinet FortiAuthenticator could benefit from some artificial intelligence functionality and resolution of some glitches that may exist.
 

Also Known As

ForgeRock Identity Platform, ForgeRock OpenIDM
FortiAuthenticator
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Geico, Thomson Reuters, Salesforce, McKesson, Trinet, SKY, BNP Paribas, Deloitte, Capgemini, North Western University
Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Find out what your peers are saying about ForgeRock vs. Fortinet FortiAuthenticator and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,933 professionals have used our research since 2012.